Nicole Shering produced one of her finest performances in winning the Welsh Outdoor Championship by over one and a half seconds at Pontypool. Fastest on the first run by almost a second from Alice Hales, Shering gave the rest of the field plenty to think about as they tried to chase her time on the second run. Alice Hales pushed her close but crashed in the finish on the second run. Jenny Davies held off Annie Usher to take second with Hales's demise. ...
Shering was the class act of the girls field that included racers from across the UK as well from Holland and Ireland. The determination that the young racer from Hemel who grew up racing for Snowtrax in Bournemouth showed on her first run gave the rest of the field a wake up call.
While Hales fought hard on the second run, she crashed out and skied over the last gate. Jenny Davies was unable to make it a double having won the All England Championships two weeks prior yet held off the challenge of her younger Aldershot teammate to take second. Usher produced a tremendous second run to overhaul Ellen Hathway for the last place on the podium.
Victoria Gatty was happy with her second run, pulling a hundredth of a second back on Hathway yet still had too much to make up to overtake the Loughborough Student.
After the top five finishers the racing was close but Shering was the class act in the field. After the announcement that Snowsport England have taken the unpopular decision to stop the Dry slope squad this week, many of the racers let their skiing do the talking.
With support from Champery, home of the Welsh Alpine Championships for the last nine years and with a group from the Swiss village at the racing, including Swiss Olympian Camille Berra, the future of the races is looking bright in this part of Britain.
Georgia Hyett retained her Welsh title in finishing seventh overall.
The age group winners were as follows: Eva Pascoe (Under 14, 12th Overall); Nicole Shering (Under 16, Race Winner), Victoria Gatty (Under 18, 5th Overall), Jenny Davies (Under 21, 2nd Overall) and Ellen Hathway (Senior, 4th Overall)
Picture: Nicole Shering. Credit Racer Ready - all rights reserved
Welsh Championships sponsored by Champery Results - Welsh Womens Result
Pictures from the racing will be on www.racer-ready.ifp3.com shortly
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